Asst. Prof. Katja Doerchner-Boyacı of the Department of Psychology has won the prestigious Sofja Kovalevskaja Award from the Humboldt Foundation in Germany. The award allows top junior researchers from around the world to spend five years building a working group and working on a high-profile, innovative research project of their own choice, at a research institution of their choice in Germany.

As part of the award, Dr. Doerschner-Boyacı will be based in the Department of General Psychology at the University of Gießen, working on the project “Protected Against Slips and Slides,” which looks at how the human visual system discerns the physical characteristics of surfaces and objects and protects us against unpleasant surprises such as biting into spoiled fruit or slipping and falling on a slippery surface. The question of just what processes are involved in this form of visual perception has to date scarcely been researched.